


When Love Falls

by Erinchu



Category: Borderlands (Video Games), Tales from the Borderlands - Fandom
Genre: Aftermath of Torture, Angst, Angst and Feels, Angst and Romance, Bad Company! Atlas, Brainwashing, I just want to make them suffer a little, Idiots in Love, LIKE A LOT OF ANGST, M/M, Psychological Torture, Slow Burn, Torture, all aboard the train to angstville, it's my au and I'LL WRITE THEM HOW I WANT TOOOOOOO, lol, rhack - Freeform, woowoo!
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-03-09
Updated: 2017-03-16
Packaged: 2018-10-01 16:41:54
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 8,349
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10194161
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Erinchu/pseuds/Erinchu
Summary: What do you do when you're a rival company and want to make Handsome Jack of Hyperion suffer? Why, you hit him where he lives of course. His heart. That's exactly what Atlas has planned, now that they've gotten their hands on the thing Jack loves most.





	1. The Transmission

**Author's Note:**

> Oh my god, here we go again kiddos! So super excited to start a new fic, something a little more angsty this time (:  
> This was originally meant to be a one shot but you guys know me. I don't know how to just do something small and this idea felt like it had a lot of potential as a full story. I hope you guys will enjoy this as I try to hurt our beloved guys ^_^ x

The company man was running as fast as he could through the Hub of Heroism, tossing people out from in front of him as he made his way to the elevator that would take him to Handsome Jack’s office. It was chaos all across Helios. An impatient finger pressed frantically at the call button and the young man paced back and forth as he waited for it. Finally, after what felt like an eternity, the doors slid open and he heard a familiar ding. Rhys sprung inside and hit the button for the CEO’S floor. Flesh fingers spun around a new silver ring, diamonds lined along each side, that rested on his left hand as Rhys’ eyes watched the floor numbers tick by on the little monitor above the door.

 

Without even letting the doors fully open, Rhys was thrusting himself through the opening and crashed right into Jack’s office.

 

“ _Jack_!?”

 

Handsome Jack looked up from his work, a bit surprised at the sudden interruption and completely ready to maim whoever it was who dared to just barge into _his_ office without permission. His attitude instantly changed though as he saw it was his fiancee’ and his mask pulled up a bit as a warm smile spread across his face.

 

If there was one person left in this world that Handsome Jack had a soft spot for, it was Rhys Matthews. He had been Jack’s PA for many years and, in that time, the two grew very close and eventually started dating, much to everyone in the company’s surprise. No one was good enough for Handsome Jack, at least not in the eyes of his adoring fans and company investors. The young PA proved himself though, leaving his position as just Jack’s PA and worked his way up through the programming department to become the head of it, all without his boyfriend’s help. Jack could not have been more proud, or more in love. In time, everyone else grew to love and accept him as well, or they’d have to deal with Jack.

 

“Heya pumpkin, you alright?” Jack chuckled a bit as he eyed Rhys, noting that he was out of breath and there was even sweat forming around his brow. Overall, he looked pretty shook up.

 

“Am _I_ alright!? What about _you_? What’s this about an assassination attempt? Is that true?” Rhys frowned as he marched up the steps leading to Jack’s desk and slammed his hands down hard against the top. Handsome Jack laughed to himself, placing his hand over his mouth to try and cover his smile. He knew laughing at Rhys when he got like this did not make for a good time. After a moment, the older man cleared his throat and made his way around the desk to Rhys’ side.

 

“Babbb _yyyy_ …” Jack started, his voice coming out in a sweet, sing-songy tone. This earned him a stern look from the other man.

 

“Jack, _don’t_ ,” Rhys warned in a low voice, a single brow raised as he watched Jack move in closer to him. As Jack slid his hands around his boyfriend’s waist, he hummed a bit, trying to press his lips against Rhys’ in an attempt to distract him. It hadn’t worked and before Jack had time to react, Rhys had swerved from his hold and was leaning next to him against the desk, arms folded across his chest. Jack let out a sigh and dropped his head down, shaking it before a deep laugh escaped his chest.

 

“Rhysie, baby, come on. It’s not anything serious, so don’t worry-”

 

“I call bullshit, Jack. _All_ of Helios is on lockdown and Wilhelm and Axton are nowhere to be found meaning they are running diversion somewhere on the station. So instead of lying to me about potential danger,” Rhys paused and glanced back at Jack’s desk, his heterochromatic eyes resting upon a rather large looking dossier that bore a stamp from Helios’ security team on the front. “Why don’t you tell me what’s really going on. Don’t you think I have a right to know?”

 

The way Rhys had said that caused a twinge of guilt to wash over Jack; he sounded genuinely hurt. Jack sighed again and pushed off the desk, grabbing hold of Rhys’ arm and yanked his body flush against his own. He held the back of Rhys’ head and looked out past him as he spoke. Rhys was right, he shouldn’t be withholding things like this from him. After all, he was to marry the man, he needed to be more open about all of this.

 

“A couple of the _real_ geeky guys who work down in security happened to intercepted a message… believed to be from Atlas,” Jack hesitated when he felt Rhys’ body stiffen in his arms. For almost as long as the two companies had been around, Hyperion and Atlas had been bitter rivals, always trying to outdo the other. Hyperion had the advantage though because it had Handsome Jack and it drove Atlas crazy. They were just better. On countless occasions, Atlas tried to sabotage or discredit Hyperion, one project after another. So it wasn’t unusual to hear a threat or two from the other company, but they usually always followed through and that’s what had Rhys worried.

 

“Typical of them. They had to wait to pull this shit until the week we announce our engagement? We can’t just have _one_ thing without Atlas trying to ruin it! This isn’t Hyperion related, this is our personal life, _ugh_!” The annoyance and frustration was clear as day in Rhys’ tone and Jack frowned, holding the younger man a bit closer to him, trying to soothe his growing anger.

 

“What was it this time?” Rhys scoffed out following it with a series of unintelligible mumbles. His mismatched eyes slid over to look at his now silent boyfriend and his brows knitted together as he watched him. It wasn’t like Jack to stay silent. After a long moment, Jack cleared his throat and simply shrugged like it was no big deal.

 

“A kidnapping attempt mixed with a little murder. Pfft, precious right? Like Atlas could even hope to kill me, let alone get onto this space station to get close to me. They’re just trying to rattle the cage, babe. Like you said, it’s probably just because of our announcement. I’m not paying too much attention to it and you shouldn’t either. Wilhelm and Axton are already looking into it.” Jack flashed one of his brilliant smiles and very gently kissed the tip of Rhys’ nose. The young programmer couldn’t help but smile and lean into his embrace. Not many people at all knew this, but Jack really did have such a soft and tender side. It made Rhys absolutely melt every single day and was one of the reasons he fell so head over heels in love with the man, despite his psychopathic tendencies.

 

Once Rhys was satisfied and assured that Jack was taking this matter seriously and after a not so quick make out session, Rhys finally departed from the CEO’s office and returned to the floor he worked on. Jack would have loved nothing more than to keep him locked up there in his office for the rest of the day, but because of that ridiculous threat, he was buried behind a mountain of paperwork. The CEO sighed as his PA sheepishly dropped off another stack of papers, the young woman practically running out the doors when Jack sneered at them. It turned out _he_ was to be the one locked up in his office for the rest of the day.

* * *

Fantastically bored with the task of signing off on all the pointless sweeps and searches security wanted to do, seriously why did he even have a head of security if he still had to ok everything, Handsome Jack was staring out a set of rather large windows that sat behind his desk. His eyes scanned over the planet below him and his mind wandered to the pathetic threat sent earlier in the day. It was pretty late in the evening at this point and forever the failure, Atlas hadn’t delivered on their threat. A small smirk cracked across Jack’s lips and he chuckled, spinning back around in his chair to face his desk.

 

“Bold move, Atlas, even for you.” Jack yawned lazily and stretched his arms up above him, letting them drape behind him and over his chair as he continued to talk to himself. “Though I am looking forward to a challenge, if it can even be called that. Things have been boring around here…” The older man’s eyes moved to a small collection of photographs that sat at the corner of his desk. He scanned over images of him and Rhys on vacation on one of the beach Eden’s along with their winter down on Pandora and finally rested on the most recent one from when Jack proposed. The man’s face lit up like a Christmas tree. “Well, not _all_ boring of course.”

 

Jack let out a tired groan and decided that was enough for today. If there was anything else security wise, Wilhelm, Axton and Tim could more than handle it, that’s what he paid them for after all. He had a rather lanky fiancee’ whose legs he wanted wrapped around him to get home to. He began packing up his things but stopped shortly after when he heard the faint sound of alarms going off somewhere within the station. And they were close, maybe a floor or two below. An unfamiliar feeling ripped through Jack’s body at an alarming speed; a chill that shot straight down his spine and he wasn’t sure why. He set his paperwork aside and quickly reached for a gun that always sat in his desk drawer. As he made his way towards his office doors, he quietly rang someone up on his ECHO.

 

“Timmy, talk to me handsome. What’s going on out there?”

 

The other man could hear that his call was picked up but the voice on the other end hesitated for a little too long and it had irritated Jack. He took a deep breath so he could properly start yelling into his ECHO device when finally, a voice that sounded much like Jack’s own, just a bit shakier, finally answered.

 

“ _Um_ , well…we’re not entirely sure yet, sir. Can I...call you back?” Timothy sounded preoccupied, as if he had been searching around for something while answering Jack’s questions and before Jack had time to answer, the line went dead. The CEO scoffed and held the device from his ear, staring at it in frustration. Did he just get hung up on? Fine, he would go see for himself.

* * *

Handsome Jack wasn’t even half way down to the Hub of Heroism when all the rest of the alarms across Helios started going off. Something was definitely wrong and not a god damn person was answering their ECHO’s. When he stepped out of the elevator into the Hub, it was total chaos all around him. His two toned eyes scanned the area to see any immediate signs of an attacker but with the mayhem of his employees scrambling to get away, it made it hard to spot anyone suspicious looking. Jack hadn’t seen any smoke or heard any explosions, so why were people screaming their damn heads off? That’s when he saw his friend and head of security Wilhelm stalking towards him. Jack clenched his jaw and lowered his head, making his way through the mass of people, all the while trying to keep an eye out for potential danger.

 

“Why in the hell are you down here, boss?” Wilhelm all but growled out at Jack as he looked around the area to make sure no one had spotted him yet. Jack just pressed his tongue against his cheek and rolled his eyes so hard, it hurt him a little.

 

“I wouldn’t of had to if someone had clued me in on what the fuck is happening on my own god damn space station!” He had not been quiet, like at all and a handful of people had stopped in their tracks to stare at the CEO. The security chief sighed and carefully grabbed hold of his friend’s arm, dragging him away to a less crowded area so they could speak privately.

 

“There…there’s been a breach. So far we have apprehended three Atlas lackeys. Two of them are already dead, they popped some pill that released a substance into their mouths and died almost instantly. We stopped the third from cracking his, but your idiot double shot him in the gut in a panic. He’ll be dead soon and we’re trying to get information from him but no luck. No idea how many more are on the station…”

 

The bearded man stood there awkwardly soaking in the silence that surrounded them, besides the screams of course. There Handsome Jack was again, being oddly silent and he mulled over everything he was just told. He placed his pointer finger against his lips as he thought and after a moment, he waved it towards the other man. It was clear he had only one question on his mind, the most important of all at the moment.

 

“How in the fuck did they get onto my station, Wilhelm?”

 

“They…” Wilhelm sighed and pushed a rather large hand through his ever greying hair before resting his hand on the back of his neck. He looked almost embarrassed, like this reflected his own work as the head of Helios’ security and in a way it did, but not even he could have prevented this. The man’s eyes shot down to look at the gleaming pocket watch attached to Jack’s jacket. “They were using Hyperion tech sir...the same tech Gladstone created using stalkers. I have no idea how they got their hands on it. We didn’t even realize we had been breached until they started shooting at random people. I-”

 

All too quickly a large hand was held up in front of Wilhelm’s face, silencing him. Handsome Jack didn’t want to hear another goddamn word. He was _livid_ . It was one thing to threaten his life over and over again, that was never going to happen, but to steal _his_ tech. Oohohoho, no, no. He wasn’t having that. This was war now.

 

“Take me to that piece of skag shit Atlas bitch who’s still alive. We need to fix that last part…”

 

There was no hesitation from the other man and he did exactly as he was told so he didn’t incur the wrath of his boss.

* * *

On their way up to the floor where the last known Atlas goon was, Wilhelm filled Jack in on every detail they had so far. They both found it a bit odd that they would come into the Hub of all places and start shooting. Why not make their way straight to Jack’s office since he was their target. They could have easily gotten by without anyone noticing. It all just seemed so... _sloppy_ and _unorganized_. Jack chuckled to himself a bit at the thought. This was Atlas after all, the idiots couldn’t even handle a simple kidnapping. When the elevator stopped and Wilhelm stepped out, Jack shot an eyebrow up and looked around. They were on the programming floor of all places.

 

“Uh, are we taking a detour? What are we doing _here_?”

 

“The first alarm went off on this floor. We have no idea why. Nothing seems to be out of place or missing. We’re thinking it was just a decoy tactic to keep our attention off of the ground floor so they could filter in.”

 

Another bone chilling shiver ran down Jack’s body and his mouth went a bit dry. He had started to ask another question when he was cut off by the frantic sound of his doppelganger.

 

“Oh thank god you’re here. I can’t get this guy to give up any information, boss. I don’t think he’s buying that I’m you…” Timothy’s voice was soft and a bit meek. He was clearly stressed out about the whole situation and even with Wilhelm guarding him, he still lacked the real Jack’s confidence. Handsome Jack let out a sigh as a hand pulled down against his face, his head shaking a bit.

 

“Shocking Tim Tam, _truly_ ,” Jack muttered, his words dripping in sarcasm as he brushed past his double. His very however turned very serious as he laid eyes on the wounded man before him, bleeding all over his once nice carpet. He stood next to the man, hovering over him just a bit, his arms resting on his sides as he looked him over. He didn’t have long left in this world, but that didn’t mean Jack wasn’t going to hurt him a little.

 

The man watched with wide eyes as Handsome Jack drew his foot back only to bring it swiftly down a moment later, right into his rib cage. He let out a pain cried and curled farther into himself, coughing up blood that spattered out onto the carpet next to his mouth. Jack groaned and kicked him a again, this time after though he used the same foot to push the man onto his back so he was looking at him.

 

“Ew, seriously? _MUST_ you bleed all over everything? I don’t suppose you’re going to clean this mess up, now are you pumpkin?” Jack slowly knelt down, resting on the balls of his feet as he grinned down at the man. He was met with cold, harsh eyes but it was easy to see that resolve withering as the life drained from the man. Jack didn’t care though, he was still alive for the time being and so Jack was going to hurt him a little.

 

“You may as well kill me asshole because I’m not telling you a thing,” spat the dying Atlas assassin. That adorable little display of resistance did nothing but fuel Handsome Jack’s need to hurt this man. Quickly, one of Jack’s hands reached out and he stuck his index finger into the bullet wound in the guy’s stomach and _pulled_. Wilhelm and Tim winced as an ear piercing scream filled the entire room and Tim had to actually stumble away before he got sick. Jack watched with pleased eyes as the guy writhed in pain beneath him as Jack unloaded question after question at him. None of which were met with an answers.

 

After a few minutes of poking and prodding at the man before him, Jack got bored and finally stood to his feet. He grabbed one of the nearby security guards and wiped his hands clean on their jacket before returning to the Atlas scum.

 

“Daw, I get it, kiddo. You don’t want to talk because you’re pouting about your little kidnapping plan going up in flames. It’s okkaayyy. You can die now knowing that you and your shitty company failed, once again!” Jack smirked and started laughing, his employees that were gathered around joining in as well. They were all cut off though as the man dying before all of them started laughing the loudest in between blood drenched coughs. The frigid tone and harshness to the man’s laugh, almost as if he was mocking them all, made the hair on the back of Jack’s neck stand on end. After a short moment, the man sat up on his elbows, staring Handsome Jack dead in the eyes and simply smiled.

 

“ _Did we_? Are you _sure_ about that?”

 

No one had time to ask what that meant before the man dropped back down to the ground, a faint breath escaping his parted lips as he finally died. Jack’s stomach dropped and he felt the colour draining from his face as those words swirled around his head. Tim carefully approached his boss, an unsteady hand reaching for him.

 

“Sir?”

  
“W-where is Rhys!?” Jack’s voice sounded panicked and frail, like he was almost choking on the words. Wilhelm and his men exchanged glances and each just shook their head. No one had seen him since this all started. Jack suddenly felt sick and without knowing why, he took off for the elevator that would take him to his office. Wilhelm and Tim were following right behind him, convinced now more than ever that they needed to stick close to their boss.

 

Jack burst through his office doors and rushed into the room, looking around for any sign of intruders or something misplaced. He was tossing paperwork from his desk and turning the furniture upside down, looking for anything at all. Timothy watched with wavering eyes, his hands clasped tightly over his mouth as he slowly began to fear the worst. Wilhelm picked up on what Jack was doing and started to help him, not entirely sure what they were looking for.

 

He had found it moments later.

 

“Jack…” Wilhelm said quietly and the CEO whipped around, rushing to his friend’s side. Wilhelm stepped aside to reveal a little white envelope taped to one of the grand windows behind Jack’s desk. With a hesitant hand, Jack reached for it, tearing it open and quickly looking over the contents. They all jumped as they heard something hit the ground and rattle around. Jack was too focused on the note inside, his whole body shaking as he read it over and over again.

 

“ _Dear Handsome Jack,_

 _We regret to inform you that you were in fact not our target,_ today _. However, lucky for us, we did get what we came for. What fun would it be to just kill you after all? No, no, in due time, but not without a little suffering first. We look forward to hearing from you; that is, if you can find us, which let’s be honest with ourselves, you won't._

_Kindest regards._

 

 _Oh and one more thing, congratulations on the engagement. Pity there will be no wedding._ ”

 

The note dropped from Jack’s hands as he slid down the glass window behind him, his vision going in and out. No, no, no, no, NO! There was no way...right? Wilhelm quietly picked up the note from the ground, a sharp hiss coming from him moments later and he too realized what was happening. Timothy had been searching around for what dropped while Jack was reading it and by the look on his face as he approached the two men, he had found it. He dropped down to his knees in front of Jack, a few stray tears streaming down his face as he handed his boss something.

 

Jack looked down with unfocused eyes at the small, round object in his hand. It was Rhys’ engagement ring. Jack pressed the palms of his hands into his eyes until he saw little specks of white and black light, trying to stop the tears from pouring from them. He didn’t understand for a moment, like his brain short-circuited and he needed to reboot just to get a grasp on what was happening. Slowly, he started to understand just what had happened. The men attacking down in the Hub of Heroism, the one wasting his time in programming, it was all a decoy to keep Jack and his men busy so they could go after their real target. After several moments, Handsome Jack lifted his head and looked between the two men in front him, his words stumbling out.

  
“He’s gone. They took Rhys.”


	2. Homecoming

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello friends! Thanks for all the wonderful feedback and kudos and comments and all that jazz. You guys really are the best and you keep me motivated!  
> I played around with time jumps in this, so hopefully it makes sense? I'm really eager to hear your thoughts aaaah! Thank you so much for reading guys and sticking with me while I try to hurt you <3
> 
> A special thank you to my wonderful beta, Fran, who is literally the best. x

_Present Day_

“ _Jack_?!” Tim was yelling as he ran through the lobby towards Jack’s office doors. Normally, he wouldn’t risk waking him up, but this was it. He’d want to be woken up for this.

 

“Jack, sir, get up right this second!” Timothy was shouting louder now, unsure of where Jack had passed out this time. Before he had a chance to yell again, Jack popped up on the small couch outside of his office, a frazzled look on his face.

 

“What? I’m over here…” Jack groaned, rubbing the sleep out of his eyes. He pulled his fingers back to see they were a little wet. Oh, that’s right… It always just took a few seconds whenever Jack would wake up to remember the reality that was his life. Rhys had been kidnapped a little over six months ago now and he had been unsuccessful in finding him. Tim crashed into the side of the couch, trying to get air into his lungs to speak. Jack looked annoyed as he waited, rolling his hand over and over again, trying to hurry him.

 

“Tim, _what_? Spit it out, kiddo. Geez.”

  
“JACK! They _found_ him,” Timothy finally got out, bursting into tears shortly after as he watched the realization of what he just said spread across his boss’s face. Without another word or hesitation, Jack was on his feet and the two were on their way down to the loading bay of Helios where Wilhelm would be arriving shortly...with Rhys.

* * *

Time was a tricky thing. Time could give you precious moments with the person you love, or it could take you farther and farther away from them. Depending on how you view it, time could either be a blessing or the most miserable thing in the whole world. For Handsome Jack, it was definitely the latter. Even though his world had come to a crashing halt when Rhys was taken, time just keep passing around him, lengthening the days that he went _without_.

 

At first, all of Hyperion was sent out in full force to look for their CEO’s fiancee and to bring him home. Those first few weeks were exhausting for everyone involved because they took no breaks, didn’t stopped to sleep or even eat really. No one dared question Jack when it came to the matter. Everyone felt sorry for the man actually. Each day that ticked by with no results, he sunk deeper and deeper into lunacy.

 

Guards were sent down to Pandora to scour the land for any clues on where to find Atlas, Jack himself leads the search party more often than not. That was perhaps the one leading advantage Atlas had over Hyperion; they were well hidden. It was sorta hard to hide a giant space station shaped like an _H_ afterall, but then again, Jack never felt the _need_ to hide. In all the years they had been around, no one actually knew where Atlas headquarters were. Even back in the day when both companies were working together, Jack and his men had to agree to be blindfolded and driven by one of the Atlas agents just to get to the facility. They were hidden underground somewhere and all anyone knew for sure was it was somewhere down on Pandora.

 

Jack was exhausting every last one of Hyperion's resources in his attempt to find Rhys. But time being the cruel mistress that she was, days turned into weeks, weeks turned into months and just over six months after the day Rhys went missing, Jack was running out of ideas. Everyone around him, sans a handful of people, had given up hope that they would not only find Rhys, but that he was even still alive. What would have been the purpose at this point? Atlas wanted to torture and drive Jack mad and they had. Hyperion wasn’t even operating as a company anymore and Atlas was picking up in all the places that Hyperion’s business was lacking. The board members tried to keep what had really happened under wraps, spinning some bullshit story that Jack had fallen ill but would make a recovery soon enough, for investors and partners of the company to not lose hope in them. There was of course speculation from reporters and the general public, but it’s easy to make those stories disappear if you pay off the right people. They didn’t care about Jack’s well being or Rhys for that matter, just the company that was making them rich and its image. A few of them had decided to confront Jack, telling him that they were going to cut him off from using Hyperion any further on this _ridiculous search_ as they referred to it.

 

“ _You keep wasting our money on someone who is probably dead! It’s time to move on and get back to work._ ”

 

Obviously, that was not something that Handsome Jack wanted to hear. It’s wasn’t a very smart idea to threaten one of the most, perhaps _thee_ most at this point, dangerous and powerful man in the universe. So, those board members found themselves being removed from Helios via airlock and just floating along as Jack watched them slowly suffocate in space. No one mentioned anything like that to him ever again.

 

There were of course still those around Jack that believed that Rhys was still alive and wanted to do whatever they could to help bring him home. Timothy, Jack’s doppelganger and Wilhelm, his best friend and head of security, were glued to the man’s hips at all hours of the day. Tim often fought with Jack, pleading with him to get some rest and to go home for just a few hours, that they would take care of it and notify him the moment they learned anything, but Jack wouldn’t budge.

 

“Sir, please you need a break. Just a small nap, you don’t even have to go home. You can sleep here. I’ll wake you up the second I know something.”

 

“Not gonna happen, Timothy. Stop pushing. Rhys wouldn’t stop looking for me, not even for sleep, so I’m sure as hell not going to take a fucking break, okay?,” Jack snapped back, pushing his unwashed hair from his face and sunk down into his chair. He tried to put the idea of sleep out of his mind, sighing as he rubbed at the large, dark circles under his eyes. He was running on fumes at this point but there was just something that wouldn’t let him quit. That caused his body double to frown and he took a careful step towards his boss, his tone firm but sympathetic.

 

“Jack, when we find Rhys, and we will find him sir, you won’t be any good to him like _this_. _Please_. I am begging you.” Timothy could see the wear on the CEO’s face. His cheeks had begun to hollow out from his lack of eating and his skin was pale, eyes completely drained of all focus. The man looked like a zombie. Timothy wanted Rhys to come home to the handsome and strong man that he knew Jack to be, not the pathetic, broken person slumped down before him.

 

Wilhelm, who had been quietly sitting at a desk across the room watching surveillance footage stood from his chair and made his way over to Jack’s desk. He leaned down across it towards Jack and gave him a stern look.

 

“Freckles is right, boss. I’m not asking you- I’m telling you. Go lay your ass down on your PA’s couch and sleep.” Wilhelm then grabbed Jack by his arm and hoisted him up, placing his other hand up as Jack began to protest. Tim was soon at Jack’s other side, helping Wilhelm move him along and gently rubbing at Jack’s back. That was it for Jack and he collapsed into his friend's arms, sobbing until he passed out. In all the years the two had know Handsome Jack, they had never seen him like that, not even when his daughter Angel died. It gutted them. Jack had fallen asleep, whimpering Rhys’ name and all he could think about was how he was already no good to Rhys. He had failed him and let harm come to the one person he loved most.

* * *

_Six Months Earlier_

The room was cold and damp, the faint smell of metal and some sort of chemical floating around in the air. There was hardly any light in the room, just a single bulb all the way in the farthest corner that would not stop flickering. That uncomfortable feeling of sleeping on something that was too hard awoke Rhys and the young man slowly sat up, groaning as his body popped and screamed at him in agony over the aches. It didn’t register in his mind yet what had happened to him, the whole thing feeling like a bad dream, until he pulled his legs in towards himself and felt resistance, the chilling sound of metal dragging along as he moved. There was something around his ankle.

 

Rhys began feeling his way around, the room impossibly dark to see anything properly, when he got the idea to just turn on the light in his cybernetic eye. When no reaction came to the command he thought he was giving his eye, he figured it must have been damaged when...that was right, someone had hit him in the face with a pipe on Helios. As if finally remembering that had happened, pain went rushing to Rhys’ head and eye and he reached up, pressing his palm to his face. He froze as he felt no pressure pushing onto his cybernetic eye and slowly he reached to touch at the spot. The ear piercing scream that followed afterwards was enough to rattle the chains that were binding Rhys.

 

His cybernetic eye was gone.

 

Panic set in throughout Rhys’ body and he scrambled to get to his feet, tripping over the chains and falling against a nearby wall. He felt frazzled and breathing suddenly became very difficult. He managed to suck in all the air he could before screaming out for help over and over again to no avail. After a few minutes of this, a small door Rhys hadn’t made out before opened and light came flooding into the room. Rhys held up his hand to shield his one remaining eye, hoping to catch a glimpse at whoever was standing in the doorway.

 

“Well, well, aren’t you a loud one? I could hear you all the way from my office. It’s very distracting you know.”

 

Rhys’ breathing increased as a voice of a woman with an odd accent filled the tiny room. Truthfully, he wasn’t even listening to what she was saying, but instead trying to see past her for a way out. Rhys heard her let out a low chuckle and before his eye had time to focus on what lied beyond the door, she had stepped in front of him.

 

“What’s a matter? Having a little difficulty seeing?” the woman mused as she stalked closer to Rhys, the sound of her heels clacking against the cold concrete. The young man jerked as a quick hand shot out and grabbed hold of his jaw, gripping him tightly and pulled his face up so he was forced to look at her. She was an older woman, with jet black hair that was pulled back so tightly, it was doing nothing to help her already sharp facial features. Pointy was a word Rhys would use to describe her. Rhys felt a chill run over him as her dark eyes drilled into his one. That was perhaps the most frightening feature about this mysterious woman, her eyes. They were bottomless pools of darkness and he couldn’t even make out the whites of them even with her so near. She looked dangerous and cruel and all Rhys could think of was how much he wished Jack were here.

 

“I’ve heard that’s a side effect of having your eye ripped out.” A shrewd, crude laugh escaped from the woman as she roughly tossed Rhys aside, wiping her hands together as if she had just touched a filthy animal and needed to get any traces of him off right away. She paused though and turned back towards him, a clearly fake apologetic look all over her face.

 

“Oh, I hope you don’t mind, we had to remove that pesky cybernetic eye of yours! Can’t have anyone knowing where you are, now can we? That would spoil all the fun we’re going to have.”

 

Rhys’ stomach dropped and he felt his blood run cold. A long while back, Rhys had installed a GPS tracker into his eye that way if anything ever happened on an away mission or he was taken, Jack would be able to find him, no problem. It appeared these people had thought that one through. That didn’t stop Rhys from believing in Jack though. He knew in his heart Jack would come for him, if he wasn’t on his way already. A smug grin pulled across Rhys’ bruised face and he pushed himself up, using the wall for support as the realization of how beat up his body was crashed over him. He faltered, only for a moment, a hand reaching up to place pressure against his side. Yup, he had at least a few broken ribs and his legs felt like a skag had used them for chew toys, but he still had that air of pride around him as he met eyes with the woman.

 

“The only thing you’ve done by removing my eye is further add onto the list you’ve already got going of things that are going to piss off my fiancee. Do you really think Jack, _Handsome Jack_ , is going to let this stand? He’s going to burn Atlas to the ground for what you’ve done and believe me when I say he will make your death a very slow and painful one. You should just do yourself a favor now and let me go before this gets any worse for you, sweetheart.”

 

The older woman pursed her lips and shook her head a bit, walking back towards Rhys. Rhys didn’t flinch this time though and instead stood with his chin held up. The woman smirked and ran a cold finger along Rhys’ jawline, lifting his chin just a bit higher before pulling back and striking Rhys hard along the side of his face. The blow caught Rhys by surprise and he dropped back down to the ground, pain like electrical shocks surging throughout his head.

 

“First, you shouldn’t be so rude. You may call me Doctor Blackwell, not _sweetheart_ and second…” she knelt down by Rhys’ side, grabbing a fistful of his hair and ruthlessly pulled back. There were those dark, piercing eyes once again that instilled fear into Rhys and he wasn’t sure why, not yet anyway.

 

“Darling, why on earth would we let you go? We’re going to have so much fun together, Mr. Matthews. So I suggest you accept the fact that Jack, _Handsome Jack_ ,” she said in a rather mocking tone, “won’t be here to rescue you anytime soon. Now, shall we get started?”

* * *

_One Day Ago_

The room didn’t feel so cold anymore and the smells became comforting since they masked the scent of blood and sweat. The small flickering light was brighter than the sun at this point. Hell, even the hard ground started to feel like it had molded to fit the man’s body. This was his home now and really, he didn’t mind it. Now when the little door at the opposite end of the room opened, he didn’t flinch or scurry to get away from whatever horrid torture they were going to inflict on him.

 

This day was no exception. As the door pulled back, Rhys sat up, pushing himself up with his good arm. His arm…A dull eye started down at his mutilated body and for a moment, his fingers twitched but his mind went blank again as he heard a familiar voice.

 

“Good morning, Wren. How did you sleep?”

 

“Very well, doctor, thank you.”

 

Dr. Blackwell grinned, jotting down a few notes before handing the pad back to one of the guards who usually escorted her now. She pulled a small device from her pocket and with a click of it, the whole room lit up. Rhys let out a small cry, trying to cover his eye from the light. It was clear he didn’t see much light besides the one in the room and on the rare occasions that they didn’t have him blindfolded when walking him through the facility. Blackwell watched as he pushed himself into the corner, his frail body shaking and convulsing almost. It literally felt like the sun was pulled into his room and he could even feel the heat on his skin. What he couldn’t understand was those lights Blackwell had turned on were actually made to simulate the light from the sun. She had been training his body this whole time and he was none the wiser.

 

Within a few short minutes, Rhys had calmed down and was able to stand back up, apologizing softly for failing her. She just shook her head and praised him, trying to calm him back down before revealing her news.

 

“I need you to come with me, Wren. Today is the big day,” she said in an almost excited tone and Rhys watched with a shocked look on his face as she extended her hand out to him. He obediently took it and nodded, following behind her as she led him from the room. He stole a glance back, worried that he wouldn’t see the safety of these walls again after today.

 

Rhys had been cleaned up and given a fresh pair of clothes along with a small rucksack of supplies. He was blindfolded once again though as he was led through the halls of Atlas. He could tell he was in a place he had never been to before, the sounds and smells completely different from anything he had come to know over the past several months. There was a loud noise of metal pulling, cogs turning and Rhys felt the ground moving beneath his feet. Some sort of elevator. Then, he could feel the heat from sunshine beating into his clothes and soaking into his skin. It was the real thing though, he was sure of it. He was walked North for a while before finally they stopped and the blindfold was removed. Rhys felt dazed and it took him a while to get his bearings. He had no idea where on Pandora he was, only that it was in fact Pandora. There was nothing for miles in any direction of them. Rhys began to panic a bit, fidgeting with the bag at his side. He turned to face Dr. Blackwell and his hand reached out, grabbing at her own as he gave her a pleading look.

 

“Sssh, ssh it’s be okay. Don’t worry my little Wren drop, you’ll be fine. Just remember what we’ve told you and no matter what, do not stop walking. Not until you are found,” her voice broke a bit and her bottom lip quivered as she looked the scared looking man over, fixing a few strands of hair that were in his face.

 

“I...I don’t want to. I-I’m scared.”

 

The hands that had just been so gentle with him were now the same ones that were striking across his face. Rhys was hit so hard, his head turned and his hand was immediately at his cheek, cradling his new wound. He flinched as she raised her hand again, this time pointing out away from them.

 

“I said go, Wren. Don’t make me tell you again. Walk.”

 

Rhys was silently sobbing now, his head dropped down low and he nodded weakly. He turned away from her reluctantly and started walking in the direction he was told. Dr. Blackwell and the men who had accompanied her watched him for a while until they could no longer see the man that was once Rhys. As they turned to leave, one of them men caught up to the good doctor.

  
“Do you really think this will work?”

“Absolutely,” she said without missing a beat, a wicked grin on her thin lips.

* * *

_Present Day_

Wilhelm had called ahead to fill Jack in on everything he knew so far. Some local Pandorian had found Rhys lying in the middle of the desert, first believed to be dead but once the guy recognized Rhys, he called up to Helios right away to report it. Wilhelm didn’t even wait for authorization from Jack and took the first shuttle down to check it out. Sure enough, it was Rhys.

 

“Boss, he’s in a bad way. I’m not sure what to make of this…”

 

Jack was silent for a long time and even with Wilhelm clearing his throat a few times, he hadn’t said anything. Not until Timothy placed a hand on his shoulder and shook him lightly. Tears broke from Jack’s eyes and slid down his cheek and he took a small gasp of air before speaking.

 

“But...but he’s alive. You like...have him on the shuttle with you right now?”

 

“Yeah boss. We got ‘im. We’re coming home as we speak. Be there in less than ten minutes. So pull it together because the kid is going to need Handsome Jack when he wakes up.”

 

Wilhelm had been mistaken in saying that…

 

The shuttle finally arrived and the station was in chaos. There were doctors and specialists waiting and ready along with tons of Hyperion employees who were just curious about what had happened to Rhys. Everyone who wasn’t needed retreated though when Timothy found his voice and yelled at them to back the fuck up and get back to work. Maybe he wasn’t such a bad Jack double afterall.

 

The doors opened and Jack had to grab onto Timothy for support as he watched Wilhelm step out, carrying his Rhysie. The kid looked like he had been someone's science experiment and it had gone horrifically wrong. Jack ran to their sides, his hands hovering over Rhys as he looked him over in detail. He didn’t know what to react to first. He could clearly see that his eye had been taken by the trauma around it and he looked at least thirty pounds lighter which was frightening when he thought about how small Rhys always was to begin with. Wilhelm swallowed loudly as he turned them a bit, revealing another detail to Jack. The CEO let out a startled cry as he saw Rhys’ left arm had been cut off, just a few inches above his elbow and hadn’t been properly treated. The wound looked septic and his skin around the area looked grey. Jack placed his hand over his mouth and nodded up towards Wilhelm.

 

“Take...take him to the medwing...r-right away. Let’s go.”

 

The man didn’t need to be told twice and he made his way through the crowd of people so he could place Rhys on one of the waiting gurneys. Jack was walking right alongside Rhys, his hand holding tightly onto the only hand Rhys had left. He couldn’t take his eyes off him, in total disbelief that there he was, right in front of him. Tortured, malnourished and mangled, but he was still _his_ Rhysie. He still had that gorgeous head of chestnut brown hair and those full lips were still calling out for Jack to kiss them. Not yet though, Jack couldn’t bring himself to do that. Not when this whole thing was his god damn fault. He would spend the rest of his life making this up to Rhys and even then, it wouldn’t be enough.

* * *

As they finally got settled in medical and got Rhys all hooked up to every monitor and IV drip under the sun, it appeared as though Rhys was coming around. Everyone waited with bated breath, eager to hear about what had happened, who had done this to him, though no one needed to be told. Atlas had made it clear it was them and proudly.

 

Jack put himself front and center, his whole body trembling as he watched Rhys come to. It happened slowly for Rhys, the piercing white lights above him burning his eye, but not how the lights at _home_ had done. His whole body was sore and he could feel the sun burn that covered his skin searing with each little movement. He struggled to push himself up, his hand sinking into...was this actually a mattress? Rhys’ heart began to race as it was really sinking in now that he wasn’t in Atlas. They would have never put him in a real bed, no matter how badly injured he was. When his vision finally started to come around, it taking just a bit longer with the one eye, he was overwhelmed by the sea of faces before him. He looked frightened and began to squirmed beneath the covers that he felt were holding him down.

 

Everything came to a screeching halt however when one face in particular stuck out to him among all the rest. Rhys could feel sweat beginning to form at his brow and his throat had gone dry as he met Jack’s eye. Jack was beaming though, the polar opposite of how Rhys was acting. He took a step towards the man’s bed and gently reached out, grabbing Rhys’ hand.

 

“Rhysie, baby…” Jack began but he was cut off as Rhys yanked himself away from Jack, tossing himself from the bed and ripped the IV’s from his arm and hand. He was trying to scramble to put distance between himself and Jack. Utter confusion spread across Jack’s face and he looked around at the others around him. Rhys didn’t even seem like he could see anyone else but Jack. Jack furrowed his brows and took a slow step towards Rhys, reaching out for him.

  
It was like this monster that was looming over Rhys and he couldn’t escape. He didn’t understand why the other people in the room were just standing there watching, not helping him at all. His breathing was choppy and rushed and his heart felt like it was going to beat right out of his chest. Rhys was petrified with fear and with every step Jack took towards him, his screaming grew louder.

**Author's Note:**

> Let me know what you guys think! Have an idea?  
> Come on over to Tumblr and let's chat!  
> http://erinchu.tumblr.com/


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